Ahhh, the wonders of a weekend in WV and coming home to houseguests. Let me tell you my tale. Warning: very long post ahead.
Trip to WV: So we drove to WV (uneventful, fun). We stopped at the Food Network famed Smokey Valley Truck Stop for some good home cookin’. We had the Friday Special: Meatloaf and Three “Vegetables”. It was great, just like Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house, cottage cheese and all. We had a wonderful time at home with my folks, the grandparents, aunts and uncles. It was a grand old time. I do love them and miss them all the time.
Which brings me to our first topic of discussion: To move home or not to move home. Whether or not to make the move home is something I’ve struggled with since I got married. Derek and I have always been able to talk ourselves out of it (so to speak) by playing all of the variables: Job market, really hard winters, lack of diversity, very small Jewish population, and just a general lack of stuff (you know, all the little stuff that people love), etc. But the one big draw is family. Its really hard to live far from family when you have a kid. It would make such a difference in our lives if we had them close. We could help them, they could help us. And my heart just gets sick every time we are home with this internal struggle. And I have to say that Derek has been really supportive and has indicated that if we could find jobs, he’d be ok with it. So there’s that. Then I go back to why I want to live in Raleigh, NC. I am a country girl who has grown to love the modern conveniences of living in a large city. I loved St. Louis, but it was just too far from my parents. Although I loved the lifestyle and the beauty of that old city, I couldn’t stand the distance.
The Raleigh area has everything you could want: tons of educational opportunities for my kids and my husband and I, an international airport, a lovely Jewish population, lots of stuff (shopping, restaurants, parks, things for kids to do), and money. You can tell when there’s money in a town and this town has it. But there’s that big gap for us: close family. Now, I do have two aunts there (and a cousin, but she don’t account for much these days), so that’s great. But its not the same as my folks or Derek’s.
This is definately a recurring theme on this blog. But for some reason the struggle gets harder and harder as the months/years go on. It weighs heavy on my mind. I just have to resolve to know that we’ll do what’s best for our family when the time comes and that time isn’t right now.
Which brings me to our next adventure: The Red Roof Inn. Ladies and gentlemen, its flea season and our house was infested. Let me start by giving you some background into my brain. When I was 12 we got nits from a friend of mine’s nasty ass pet. Nits are evil and cling (and lay eggs) onto the roots of your hair. So they are a real bitch to kill. I can tell you how many times my mom and dad rubbed chemicals into my scalp and ran a tiny comb though my long, thick, curly hair to try and rid our house of them (about 3 within about 18 months). They are hard to kill and I have huge paranoia about little bugs like that. You have to wash everything in your house: pillows, curtains, bedding, throw rugs, clothes, etc. So I’ve done this routine lots in my lifetime, but not recently and not in my new house. So, when we got home last night from a long afternoon on the road, we very quickly saw that they were in fact in our home and had multiplied while we were gone. We quickly resolved to fog the house with some flea bombs and get a hotel room. So I ran to the store, got the flea bombs and flea spray and ran back to the house. We loaded the car back up with our luggage and the baby. Once everyone was out I strategically set up the 6 foggers according to the plan my dad and I came up with. Then I set them off, starting up stairs and ending with the one by the garage door, locked up and off we went to the hotel.
We settled in, we took showers, ate, fed the baby and came to the conclusion that I should go back to the house to start the clean up. This is the bitch part: airing out the house, vacuuming the floors and couches, mopping, cleaning off surfaces, taking down curtains, piling laundry, piling laundry, piling laundry. When vacuuming, you have to spray flea killer in the canister and constantly empty it because they can escape. After vacuuming I went back and sprayed areas that are popular doggie hangouts and threw out all of their bedding, etc. I was there from about 8:00-10:00 doing all of the above. I got a good workout, that’s for sure. I’m tired and strung-out and am dreading this evening. I have a world of laundry ahead of me, let alone all of our dirty clothes from the trip. I still have surfaces to clean. I have no earthly idea where Lilly is going to hang out while I finish cleaning her room. I guess it’ll be the baby jail in some corner I sanitize for her. When you have a baby it’s a whole different ball of wax because you have to really be careful to clean up all the chemicals. I don’t want her breathing that stuff if we can help it, and her skin is so sensitive. But then again, I don’t want to get rid of too much because we want the stuff to keep working.
The Dogs: The dogs are still at the dog sitter and are getting dipped again tonight. Derek will be making a run to the vets for the hardcore flea prevention stuff that you put between their shoulder blades. And we need a new carpet for the living room. I need to make a list….and check the bank account. Hey, if it wasn’t this, it was bound to be something else, right?
Here’s hoping you are having a fabulous Tuesday. Three cheers for pumpkin beer!
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